Minghui Yang

Dalian University of Technology | DUT · School of Environmental Science and Technology Dalian University of Technology

Compared to traditional modulation by metal cations doping, oxyanions offer a higher possibility of mediating the performance of electrocatalysts toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER) due to their special polyanion configurations and large electronegativity. However, the mechanism and rules of oxyanions mediation remain poorly understood. Herein,...

Solar energy harnessing and conversion has attracted considerable research interest. Photo(electro)catalysis based approaches offer one of the methods for moving forward. In recent times, cobalt-based nitrides, with their excellent catalytic properties and unique electronic structure, have attracted attention in the field of solar energy conversion...

The production of hydrogen through electrolysis of seawater is a promising technology for sustainable energy generation. Platinum (Pt) is currently the most efficient catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER),...

Smart and precise sensing is very important for the protection of both environment and personal security in modern civilized society. There are numerous sensing devices for detecting physical and chemical changes such as temperature, humidity, pressure, and chemical species. In this regard, conducting polymers is at the core of attention for the fa...

Due to the rapid industrialization across the world, various environmental pollutants have begun to accumulate in water, air and soil. This endangers the ecological environment of the earth, and environmental remediation has become an immediate concern. Among various environmental remediation techniques, piezo-catalytic techniques uniquely take adv...

Due to the rapid industrialization across the world, various environmental pollutants have begun to accumulate in water, air and soil. This endangers the ecological environment of the earth, and environmental remediation has become an immediate concern. Among various environmental remediation techniques, piezo‐catalytic techniques uniquely take adv...

This article deals with explores to review of the recent advances in wearable electronics using textile-based flexible and printable materials (TFPMs) for the next generation of wearable and flexible electronic devices. Among different types of wearable electronics, flexible electronics, and electronic sensors, which integrate flexible textiles wit...

Defect engineering provides a promising approach for optimizing the trade-off between support structures and active nanoparticles in heterojunction nanostructures, manifesting efficient synergy in advanced catalysis. Herein, a high density of distorted lattices and defects are successfully formed in bronze TiO2through caging alkali-metal Na cations...

There is a clear need to develop efficient and stable electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) that do not rely on noble metals. Transition metal nitrides are emerging as good substitutes for HER electrocatalysts because of their distinctive electronic properties and availability. Furthermore, forming suitable heterojunctions can impr...

Single-site metal atoms (SMAs) on supports are attracting extensive interest as new catalytic systems due to maximized atom utilization and superior performance. However, rational design of configuration-optimized SMAs with high activity from the perspectives of fundamental electron spin is highly challenging. Herein, N-coordinated Fe single-atoms...

The development of Li-S batteries (LSBs) is plagued by the unreasonable integration of adsorption-catalysis-conduction functional modules. Heterojunction domains are expected to achieve the job-sharing catalysis and adsorption effects, which are however degraded by the loose discrete distribution and insufficient exposure of catalyst. Herein, we pr...

A dual-phase transition metal nitride (TMN) based Co4N-WNx system has been fabricated using nitridation of CoWO4. The interface between centrosymmetric Co4N and non-centrosymmetric WNx promotes charge carrier separation. This system also shows piezoelectric behavior. The piezoelectric property has been proved using piezoelectric force microscopy (P...

Gas sensing catalyst is the key to proton exchange membrane fuel cell type gas sensor. However, due to the limitations of Pt/C catalyst in an electronic structure and electrochemical stability, the sensing performance of the sensor inconformity the strict performance objectives, and new sensing materials are required. Here we demonstrate that a nov...

Surface modification by employing precious metals is one of the most effective ways to improve the gas-sensing performance of metal oxide semiconductors (MOS). Pure α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles and Pt-modified α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles were prepared sequentially using a rather simple hydrothermal synthesis and impregnation method. Compared with the original α...

Atomically dispersed CoNC is a promising material for H2O2 selective electrosynthesis via a two‐electron oxygen reduction reaction. However, the performance of typical CoNC materials with routine CoN4 active center is insufficient and needs to be improved further. This can be done by fine‐tuning its atomic coordination configuration. Here, a s...

Physical aspects of bimetallic transition metal oxides are sensitive to morphology, type and composition of dopant metal cations and cation distribution in the lattice of parent oxide. Here in this study, motifs are fabricated by a combination of rare earth (Ce³⁺) metal doping in the cobalt oxide and hybridization with Graphene oxide (GO) using met...

Metal phosphides with high electronic conductivity are recognized as promising electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, we report on a family of cobalt phosphides (CoP, CoP2, and CoP/CoP2) encapsulated in thin carbon layer as two-electron (2e-) ORR electrocatalysts for H2O2 production. Benefiting from the regulation of cobalt ph...

Significant efforts have been directed towards the use of transition metal nitrides as electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Molybdenum nitride, despite its potential for scalable production, suffers from the bottleneck of poor catalytic activity. Furthermore the kinetics of the water dissociation process ought to be improved...

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is considered a highly hazardous toxic gas. H2S sensors are therefore of paramount significance for real-time leak detection. However, existing solutions do not meet the strict performance targets set by stakeholders, while deactivation due to surface area of sensing materials decrease and contamination is a widely unsolved p...

Energy storage devices are the ultimate flexible solution to overcome energy deficiency. Thre is a need is to find innovative nanomaterials to overcome the delays in efficiency and sustainability. Herein, we report the synthesis of hierarchical MoS 2 /rGO nanohybrids as electrode material for supercapacitors. Pure phase and flower-shaped molybdenum...

A proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) gas sensor is a promising and novel gas sensing device. However, the poor sensitivity and strong cross sensitivity of commercial carbon-supported-platinum (Pt/C) remain obstacles to its utilization. Here, we demonstrate that the issue can be addressed using mesoporous titanium niobium nitrides (Ti0.75Nb0...

Transition metal sulfide (TMS) promises an excellent prospect in electrocatalysis with high intrinsic activity but poor conductivity. In this work, a series of TMS wrapped by a thin carbon layer with enhanced conductivity have been developed by a facile and rapid strategy. Among them, the prepared CoS x compound exhibits the optimal ORR and OER per...

Integrating active Pt clusters into transition-metal oxides with water-dissociation ability is effective to prepare a bifunctional electrocatalyst for water splitting in alkaline. However, the additional utilization of a reductant and/or the operation at the elevating temperature causes the over-growth and agglomeration of Pt clusters, thus losing...

Efficient, accurate and reliable detection and monitoring of H2S is of significance in a wide range of areas: industrial production, medical diagnosis, environmental monitoring, and health screening. However the rapid corrosion of commercial platinum-on-carbon (Pt/C) sensing electrodes in the presence of H2S presents a fundamental challenge for fue...

The advancement of efficient electrocatalysts toward the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) is critical in sustainable ammonia synthesis under ambient pressure and temperature. Manipulating the electronic configuration of electrocatalysts is particularly vital to form metal–nitrogen (MN) bonds during the NRR through regulating the active electronic...

Volatile organic compounds are highly toxic, and need advanced sensing technology for detection. The morphology, composition and surface characteristics are critical parameters to enhance the gas sensing of metal oxide-based sensors. However, the experimental results only reflect macroscopic phenomena, but cannot explain the sensing mechanism in de...

At the semiconductor and metal interface, a built-in electric field leading to electron enrichment can be applied in developing efficient nano-hybrid catalysts because the induced electron-rich and electron-poor counterparts can synergistically modulate the active sites and elementary reaction steps. To overcome the extra difficulty in alkaline wat...

Given the thermal management problem aroused by increasing power densities of electronic components in the system, graphene-based papers have raised considerable interest for applications as thermal interface materials (TIMs) to solve interfacial heat transfer issues. Significant research efforts have focused on enhancing the through-plane thermal...

Oxygen electroreduction (ORR) via a two-electron pathway is a promising alternative for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) synthesis in small-scale applications. In this work, nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbon coated zinc sulfide nanoparticles (ZnS@C) are synthesized using facile high-temperature annealing. In an alkaline electrolyte, the presence of ZnS s...

Photocatalysis is a promising and convenient strategy to convert solar energy into chemical energy for various fields. However, photocatalysis still suffers from low solar energy conversion efficiency. Developing state of the art photocatalysts with high efficiency and low cost is a huge challenge. Transition metal nitrides (TMNs) as a class of met...

This paper has developed a fuel cell type methanol sensor based on platinum-decorated mesoporous chromium nitride (CrN). Mesoporous CrN is prepared by the zinc-oxygen precursor ammonolysis method, and the polyol method is adopted to load Pt on CrN and XC-72R carbon blacks. The sensor device manufactured by the hot-press process is tested at room te...

Indium oxide (In2O3) nanocubes modified by ruthenium oxide (RuO2) on the surface are successfully prepared through hydrothermal method, calcination and impregnation in turn. The sensing properties of RuO2-modified In2O3 sensing material are apparently enhanced with extremely low loading amount of RuO2. The response values of RuO2-modified In2O3 sen...

Efficient catalysts are required for both oxidative and reductive reactions of hydrogen and oxygen in sustainable energy conversion devices. However, current precious metal-based electrocatalysts do not perform well across the full range of reactions and reported multifunctional catalysts are all complex hybrids. Here we show that single-phase poro...

Greatly efficient chemical processes are customarily based upon a catalyst activating the process pathway to achieve higher yields of a product with desired specifications. Catalysts capable of achieving good performance without compromising green credentials are a pre-requisite for the development of a sustainable process. In this study, CeO2 nano...

Metal-support interaction strongly influences the catalytic properties of metal-based catalysts. Here, titanium nitride (TiN) nanospheres are shown to be an outstanding support, for tuning the electronic property of platinum (Pt) nanoparticles and adjusting the morphology of indium sulfide (In2S3) active components, forming flower-like core-shell n...

Distinguishing toxic gases among the various volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) is of significant practical value for atmospheric and environmental pollution monitoring, industrial monitoring, and even for medical diagnostics (where VSCs are indicators of diseases). The particular challenge lies in the detection and discrimination of sulfur-containin...

Conventional water electrolyzers produce H2 and O2 simultaneously. The sluggish water oxidation reaction (WOR) results in low overall energy conversion efficiency; also the production of O2 is not of economic value. Thus, replacing sluggish anodic water oxidation reaction with 5-(Hydroxymethyl) furfural oxidation reaction (HmfOR) has been considere...

Low solar-to-fuel conversion in conventional semiconductor-based photocatalysts limits their commercial applications. Searching for highly efficient cost-effective co-catalysts is desirable for the development of artificial photosynthesis systems. In this work, we report a simple yet efficient electrostatic self-assembly process to synthesize one-d...

Noble metal modification was a very promising way to enhance the gas-sensing properties of semiconductor materials. Therefore, gas sensors based on noble metal modified semiconductor materials had received much attention. In this work, PdO-modified α-Fe2O3 (denoted as PdO-α-Fe2O3) composite nanocrystals were fabricated by simple hydrothermal approa...

The profiling of bacterial metabolism is of great significance in practical applications. Therefore, the development of ultrasensitive and highly selective probe for bacterial metabolism detection and imaging is extremely desirable. Herein, a novel dual-emission pH-response bacterial metabolism detection and imaging probe is successfully developed....

The rational design of novel catalysts for energy applications, has been an area of immense interest over the past decades. Recent studies have demonstrated that slight surface oxidation of nitrides...

Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is an effective means to producing hydrogen from electrolytic water splitting. However the best-performing catalysts use expensive Pt-group metals. Cheaper non-precious metal alternatives have shown low...

The coordination environments of iron (Fe) in Fe-N-C catalysts determine their intrinsic activities toward oxygen reduction reactions (ORR). The precise atomic-level regulation of the local coordination environments is thus of critical importance yet quite challenging to achieve. Here, atomically dispersed Fe-N-C catalyst with O-Fe-N2C2 moieties is...

A surface functionalization strategy, utilizing Co‐MOF/PDMS as tandem coating layers, was proposed to overcome the problem of humidity sensitivity for semiconducting metal‐oxide‐based gas sensors. This approach can be extended to various humidity‐independent gas‐sensing materials. Abstract Semiconducting metal oxides (SMOXs) are used widely for ga...

Semiconducting metal oxides (SMOXs) are used widely for gas sensors. However, the effect of ambient humidity on the baseline and sensitivity of chemiresistors is still a largely‐unsolved problem, reducing sensor accuracy and causing complications for sensor calibrations. Here we present a general strategy to overcome water‐sensitivity issues by coa...

Efficient electrocatalysts for water splitting are essential for viable generation of highly purified hydrogen. Hence there is a need to develop robust catalysts to eliminate barriers associated with sluggish kinetics associated with both anodic oxygen and cathodic hydrogen evolution reactions. Herein, we report a two-step approach nanocasting-soli...

Magnetic two-dimensional materials have gained considerable attention in recent years due to their special topologies and promising applications in electronic and spintronic devices. As a new family of two-dimensional materials, MXene materials may have unusual magnetic properties. In this work, the structural stabilities and electronic properties...

In this paper, KIT-6 is used as a template to prepare ordered mesoporous materials WO3 and Au-loaded WO3 (Au–WO3). The pristine WO3 sensor and the Au–WO3 sensor are fabricated for the detection of 19 important gases, such as trimethylamine, formaldehyde and CS2. The results show that the Au–WO3 sensor has better selectivity and higher response to T...

Abstract Nitrogen-doped carbon materials with a large specific surface area, high conductivity, and adjustable microstructures have many prospects for energy-related applications. This is especially true for N-doped nanocarbons used in the electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and supercapacitors. Here, we report a low-cost, environmenta...

Hydrogen peroxide is a widely used industrial oxidant, the large-scale production of which continues to be done by an indirect process. Direct electrosynthesis of hydrogen peroxide from aerial oxygen and water is a sustainable alternative, but this remains challenging because hydrogen peroxide is highly reactive and robust catalysts are vital. Here...

he design and development of non-precious metal catalysts with high activity and stability for overall water splitting remains a major challenge. Herein, lamellar FeNi3N incorporated by FeNi3 is synthesized via thermal ammonolysis. The abundance of hollow sites in this FeNi3-FeNi3N heterostructure significantly enhances the intrinsic activity towar...

Titanium carbonitrides have promising catalytic properties for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, its synthesis normally requires high temperatures (1200–1800 °C), thus limiting research carried-out on them. The catalytic properties of the carbonitrides have so far been improved through post-synthesis partial surface oxidation. This makes th...

Atomically dispersed catalysts, with maximized atom utilization of expensive metal components and relatively stable ligand structures, offer high reactivity and selectivity. However, the formation of atomic-scale metals without aggregation remains a formidable challenge due to thermodynamic stabilization driving forces. Here, a top-down process is...

Photocatalytic solar to chemical energy conversion is an important energy conversion process but suffer from low efficiency. Thus, development of efficient photocatalytic system using earth-abundant elements with low costs is highly desirable. Here, antiperovskite cobalt zinc nitride has been synthesized and coupled with carbon black (Co3ZnN/C) for...

The generation of novel mesoporous materials with well-defined structure and accessible pore networks is helpful in both fundamental and energy-related research. Nanocasting mesoporous earth-abundant materials and their composite materials offer opportunities to make electrochemically active materials that allow scalable production and cost-effecti...

Energy storage devices are the ultimate flexible solution to overcome energy deficiency. Thre is a need is to find innovative nanomaterials to overcome the delays in efficiency and sustainability. Herein, we report the synthesis of hierarchical MoS2/rGO nanohybrids as electrode material for supercapacitors. Pure phase and flower-shaped molybdenum d...

Advance applications like water splitting system and rechargeble metal-air battery are highly dependent on efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Heterostructured materials, with high active surface area and electron effect, accomplish enhanced catalytic performance. Here, a nitride-sulfide heterostructure (FeNi3N-Ni3S2) has...

Three-dimensional ordered macroporous NiO/ZrO2 nanocomposites are synthesized using a facile colloid crystal template method. The structure and morphology of the as-prepared NiO/ZrO2 composites are studied. These composite materials show excellent ordered porous structure with size of ∼200 nm. The gas sensing test indicates that the composite with...

A significant interest in the exploration of clean and renewable alternative energy resources has been observed in recent years to combat environmental pollution and energy shortages for a sustainable future. In this regard, hydrogen is clean, energy-rich fuel with unlimited potential. It can be produced via water-splitting process using the most a...

As the vital component affecting the performance of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery, the cathode host materials are of great importance. In order to pursue the high sulfiphility to obtain good performance, vast environmentally hazardous heavy metals were introduced, increasing the production costs and hindering Li-S battery real application to a cert...

Searching for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts outperforming Pt, the state of the art material, continues. Doped carbon-based materials offer a viable means for replacing Pt, but their activity improvement still remains great challenge. Here configurations of N-doped carbons are firstly analyzed using ab initio simulations towards ORR. The...

Developing high-performance and cost-effective bifunctional electrocatalysts for water splitting is the key to large-scale hydrogen production. How to achieve higher performance with lower amount of noble metal is still a major challenge. Herein, by a facile wet-chemistry strategy, we report the ultra-low amount of ruthenium (Ru) loading on porous...

Due to the importance for practical applications in energy conversion, resolving kinetic issues of water-dissociation in alkaline media on Pt-based electrocatalysts remains an ongoing challenge. Herein, electronic properties of Pt could be modified with nickel nitride (Ni3N) support through forming interface of low ratio of Pt nano clusters (Pt NCs...

Lithium sulfur (Li–S) batteries are next general energy storage systems due to their high thereotical energy density, low cost and environmental friendly. Herein, we develop a composite polysulfide mediator based on carbon nanotubes enwrapped by zinc sulfide (CNTs@ZnS) nanoparticles as multifunctional host materials for sulfur cathode. The ZnS nano...

The production of hydrogen from electrocatalytic water splitting using a clean energy source has become a sustainable route to overcome the problems related to fossil fuels. Therefore, it is essential to develop a non-precious, stable and highly efficient electrocatalyst. Nickel and cobalt sulphide have gained much attention as hydrogen evolution r...

In this paper, the effect of Zn incorporation into the lattice of Fe3C, CoCx and Ni3C is investigated. It is discovered that the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) of Fe3C, CoCx and Ni3C can be enhanced through Zn incorporation into their lattices. This results in the formation of Co3ZnC, Fe3ZnC and Ni3ZnC electrocatalysts. The catalysts show apprecia...